A Wuxia Tale: Blades and Flowers

New Moon

(WANG HUA)

It disturbed me. It truly did. To see someone who is a more beautiful and a more mature version of myself.

Meeting my Auntie FeiXuan is not exactly a pleasant experience.

Growing up being surrounded by my Wang family made me feel a little unique. Dao looks a lot like Baba and his side of the family while I knew for so long that I inherited my looks from my deceased mother and her side of the family.

But now that I have seen someone from my maternal family, I cannot help but feel a little strange about it. Auntie FeiXuan has never demanded for us to visit them and they didn't interfere with Father raising us, but now she traveled for almost three months from their hometown down SouthEast just to come to the capital and demand, of all things, the rights to pick a bride for my twin.

I laughed so hard at that.

Father threw me an irritated look. "You find something amusing about this situation, Wang Hua?" He is clearly annoyed.

I grinned at my parents. "I just find it funny that maybe Wang Dao will get married before me." I said.

Both Baba and Father gave me exasperated looks. I think meeting Auntie FeiXuan has robbed them their sense of humor, which in all honesty, I cannot blame them for feeling like this.

"Stop cursing your brother. You already did it once," Father muttered grimly.

"When did I do that?" I cannot remember cursing Dao before.

"When you told us that your brother will take home someone worse or more troublesome than a prince," Baba reminded me.

"Ah that. I was just joking. Surely it will not happen," I said merrily.

Baba and Father, once again, gave me tired and resigned looks. It seems like this is truly a problem for them. I sighed, "Whats the worst thing that could possibly happen? Dao and I losing our inheritance from our mother's family? I see no problem in that?" Who needs my mother's family's money? Baba and Father saved enough to keep us living comfortably for the rest of our lives.

"No, its Dao being forced to give away even his inheritance from your Wang side of the family that is the problem. Maybe even including this estate." Father muttered with enough disdain to make me wince.

"We can lose our home?! Thats too much!" No wonder Father is losing his calm. Wang Estate could be taken from us? The absurdity of that idea is staggering.

"Your mother's family has a greedy side," Baba explained. "They love keeping the fortune to their side of the family and taking chunks on the families they married into. Your brother is on the line to inherit much of their fortune. That is why they will try to control anyone who will marry your brother."

"So, they will take our home as the chunks to include in their family fortune? How dare them even think of doing that?" I now feel angry as well. "Then why not just give me this estate and not include it on Dao's inheritance?"

Baba and Father silently stared at me. Their nonverbal reply says it all. "Oh right, I am a female, hence has no rights to own a property as big as this estate."

The double standard in this society is killing me with annoyance.

"Its not that," Father tried to mollify me. "There are some females who can inherit lands and properties but only if there are no male relatives close enough in the family tree to inherit it. You have a twin brother, a rather close male relative if I may say so."

"Right. Right!" I grumbled bitterly. "Why give the inheritance to the daughter when there is a son in the family picture?"

"I'm sorry, my love." Father said. "But thats how things are and we will just die early if we will keep grumbling about it. You will have enough money in your dowry to keep you in a comfortable living for the rest of your life. Not to mention you will surely marry someone from a wealthy family as well. No need to envy your brother his fortune when you clearly have yours."